Does Foreign Investors' Information Access Vary with Geopolitical Tensions? Evidence from Corporate Conference Calls

• 成果类型: Article; Early Access
• 署名作者: Lu, Yifei; Wu, Joanna Shuang; Yang, Yucheng (John)
• 署名单位: University of Illinois System; University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; University of Rochester; Chinese University of Hong Kong
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ACCOUNTING RESEARCH
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0021-8456
• DOI: 10.1111/1475-679X.70009
• 发表日期: 2025
• 关键词: Political uncertainty; EXPROPRIATION; POLICY; management; adoption; FIRMS; INVESTMENT; PROTECTION; analysts; TRADE

摘要

We study how foreign investors' access to corporate information varies with pairwise geopolitical tensions between the investor's and investee's countries. Using a sample of 1,760 country-pairs, we find that geopolitical tensions between a conference call host firm's country and a foreign country relate negatively with investor participation from that foreign country as well as the quality and tone of management responses in the call, suggesting reduced foreign investor information access with rising tensions. A single-country analysis of Chinese AB-share firms produces similar inferences. With higher China-foreign tensions, foreign attendance at private meetings with management declines, and English translations of local language disclosures become less frequent and shorter in length. Curtailment in English translations is more pronounced when local language disclosures contain politically sensitive words, suggesting lower information supply by firm choice. Reduced disclosures from geopolitical tensions are impounded in foreign investors' asset pricing decisions, resulting in steeper foreign-share price discounts.